ED's REENGAGEMENT NOT AN END

Reengagement reconciliation the art of easing tensions with former hostile states have been at the heart of the ED's new dispensation representing a radical shift in foreign policy preferences ,along with it has been a wild expectation that by engagement all critical problems of the state would have been put to the guillotine. This expectation  arose from a politicized  propagandized and hyperbolized definition of both the Zimbabwean problem and the Zimbabwean solution .For years the  Zimbabwean public mind has  been radicalized to believe only two alternatives, first the Zimbabwean problem was explained to be emanating from external states who desire  to undermine our sovereignty  and decapitate our economy through sanctions secondly it was explained by the opposition as coming from mismanagement ,dictatorship and disregard for rule of law. As a solution both alternatives believed that reengagement was the solution but the previous regime never sought to prioritized reengagement because it believed it was in a stalemate where Zimbabwe as a state could not change  behavior of the  sanctioning states as a prerequisite for engagement while the sanctioning states couldn’t convince Zimbabwe to change its behavior as a precondition for reengagement.

To break the deadlock  the new dispensation as an era of good feelings understood that life in isolation after being betrayed forgotten and abandoned by the West was the worst but also the causal factors of disengagement were not singular so as the explanation of the Zimbabwean problem, it was not only external states that were to blame but our sovereign mismanagement as well. General Bae realized that it is time for us to stop removing a stick that is our brother eye and concentrate to remove a log that is in our own eyes thereby creating avenues for engagement. To successfully achieve this accommodation seemed to be the only way , our old positions had to be shifted, Indigenization Act had to be amended ,FDI promoted ,former hostile states had to be invited to witness the elections, debt repayment reassurances had to be made .The hope is that  all these changes will lead us back to the Commonwealth by year end which would be a prelude to the removal of the EU endorsed sanctions consequently isolating the  USA as the only sanctioning  state  a position which can not be maintained for a long time.

But life in engagement is not all rosy and heavenly as marketed by the promise of political pastors prophet wannabes who preach that reengagement will precipitate 15 billion and translate to western standards of development with bullet trains and neighborhoods airports. One has to realize that that we were engaged in the first 20 years of our existence and that some if not all SADC states are in engagement with the western world yet they still suffer serious economic social and political problems despite having the Western partner. For instance Malawi was recently on the verge of starvation, in Zambia and Mozambique have not only high unemployment rates but low literacy levels  even the regional hegemony South Africa has its fair share of serious economic and political problems that arise from unequal distribution of wealth. Therefore engagement is not the end but the beginning of the dissolution of our problems, it is still not the “whitemans burden” to develop and civilize Zimbabwe it is still our duty to do so ,as it was in the beginning so it shall be till the end.

In reengagement we are seeking the removal of sanctions and restrictions , aid and markets. Attainment of all these in will surely put us in a better economic  position than we are now. But if not cautious it will lead to a new set of a catalogue of political problems that emanates from dependency for aid and markets. For aid and market access will become an instrument of manipulation and control by western states , we will never know independence again. The more success we will draw from aid and market access the more we will become vulnerable for manipulation and external control. If sanctions taught us anything it is that development based on X factor {the behavior of foreign states} is not sustainable nor predictable and produces an ambiance of uncertainty.It is therefore becomes rational to pray for the best while planning for the worst for the future always favours the strong and the self reliant.The ideal goal and the cross of the new dispensation is to ensure that the state become as self reliant as possible in order to serve guard our sovereignty while also blocking accessing aid and markets

Therefore as Machel always advised “Aluta continua” {struggle continues} but in reengagement “Contra oque? {Against what} contra foreign domination and contra  neo-colonialism. Fortunate for us neo-colonialism and sovereignty are the lessons which every Zimbabwean never missed. We need to revise these lessons especially now  when as a state we are remarrying the wife we once divorced we shouldn’t be naïve that the period of separation has converted the wife of her evil ways because neither does she believe we have castigated ours as well rather we should be keeping both the marriage counselor and the lawyer on speed dial always.For even now the sovereignty of our brother South Africa is being threatened  by the USA with aid reduction if he doesn’t change his voting behavior in the UN and Rwanda the “Africa’s success” story of development has  become the only African state that crucified the Palestinian cause to the cross by voting for  Zionist Apartheid Israel in the UNSC. This rare move by Rwanda  was done out of fear for loosing aid ,markets and FDI. Rengagement like marriage is not an end  but a life of constant struggles with occasional fights ,happiness and anger as Madiba used to say “after climbing a high mountain one realize there are more mountains to climb.’’

                                                 malikmpereki@blogspot.com